Platinum nanoparticle catalysed coupling of phenol derivatives with 4-aminoantipyrine in aqueous medium

The oxidative coupling of phenols with 4-aminoantipyrine (AmNH₂) has been studied by UV–visible spectroscopy using platinum nanoparticles as catalyst. The rate of antipyrilquinoneimine dye formation depends on the nature of substrates, temperature, pH, and the use of microheterogeneous media such as sodium dodecylsulphate (SDS), cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and Triton X-100 (TX-100). The reactivity trend observed for differently substituted phenols follows the order: 3,5-dimethylphenol > phenol > o-chlorophenol > o-nitrophenol. The rate of dye formation is greater at acid pH than at basic pH and the optimum pH is 5.4. A reaction pathway is proposed, involving the activation of o-chlorophenol with AmNH₂ by metal nanoparticles and concomitant reactions of free radicals. Transmission electron microscopy results show that the particle size is 20 nm for the platinum nanoparticles involved in catalysis. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Intramolecular Wittig Reaction: A New Synthesis of (S)‐Pyrrolam A

A straightforward synthesis of (S)‐pyrrolam A is described. The synthesis involves in situ generation of the phosphorane 3 , followed by an intramolecular Wittig reaction to furnish (S)‐pyrrolam A.     

First enantiospecific synthesis of (+)-β-herbertenol

The first enantiospecific synthesis of (+)-β-herbertenol, from naturally occurring R-(+)-citronellal, employing Taber's diazo decomposition protocol as the key step, is described.     

Water-induced switching of β-structure to polyproline II conformation in the 4S-aminoproline polypeptide via H-bond rearrangement

4S-Aminoproline polypeptide 2 forms unusual β-structure in trifluoroethanol that switches to the polyproline II (PPII) form in aqueous medium, while 4R-aminoproline peptide 1 retains PPII form in both solvents. This first instance of a polyproline derivative showing a β-structure is attributed to competitive pH-dependent (4-NH(3)(+)/NH(2)) stereoelectronic effect (4R vs 4S) and the overriding importance of stereospecific intra/intermolecular H-bonding in (2,4)-cis-4S-aminoproline in contrast to (2,4)-trans-4R-aminoproline oligomers.     

Document control: status of calibration/test certificate

The ISO/IEC 17025 standard requires that all documents that form part of the management system of the organization must be controlled. However, as customary, the certificates issued from testing or calibration laboratories do no bear any unique identity mark/number similar to other documents to announce control over the document. This leaves enough room for doubt to many in treating this document at par with other management system documentation. Some auditors had raised this question during accreditation visits.     

Study of band offsets in InN/Ge heterojunctions

InN layers were directly grown on Ge substrate by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PAMBE). The valence band offset (VBO) of wurtzite InN/Ge heterojunction is determined by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). The valence band of Ge is found to be 0.18 ± 0.04 eV above that of InN and a type-II heterojunction with a conduction band offset (CBO) of ~ 0.16 eV is found. The accurate determination of the VBO and CBO is important for the design of InN/Ge based electronic devices.     

The impact of ultra thin silicon nitride buffer layer on GaN growth on Si (1 1 1) by RF-MBE

Ultra thin films of pure silicon nitride were grown on a Si (1 1 1) surface by exposing the surface to radio-frequency (RF) nitrogen plasma with a high content of nitrogen atoms. The effect of annealing of silicon nitride surface was investigated with core-level photoelectron spectroscopy. The Si 2p photoelectron spectra reveals a characteristic series of components for the Si species, not only in stoichiometric Si₃N₄ (Si⁴⁺) but also in the intermediate nitridation states with one (Si¹⁺) or three (Si³⁺) nitrogen nearest neighbors. The Si 2p core-level shifts for the Si¹⁺, Si³⁺, and Si⁴⁺ components are determined to be 0.64, 2.20, and 3.05 eV, respectively. In annealed sample it has been observed that the Si⁴⁺ component in the Si 2p spectra is significantly improved, which clearly indicates the crystalline nature of silicon nitride. The high resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and photoluminescence (PL) studies showed a significant improvement of the crystalline qualities and enhancement of the optical properties of GaN grown on the stoichiometric Si₃N₄ by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).     

Kinetics of self-assembled InN quantum dots grown on Si (111) by plasma-assisted MBE

One of the scientific challenges of growing InN quantum dots (QDs), using Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), is to understand the fundamental processes that control the morphology and distribution of QDs. A systematic manipulation of the morphology, optical emission, and structural properties of InN/Si (111) QDs is demonstrated by changing the growth kinetics parameters such as flux rate and growth time. Due to the large lattice mismatch, between InN and Si (~8%), the dots formed from the Strannski–Krastanow (S–K) growth mode are dislocated. Despite the variations in strain (residual) and the shape, both the dot size and pair separation distribution show the scaling behavior. We observed that the distribution of dot sizes, for samples grown under varying conditions, follow the scaling function.     

Recent advances in the synthesis of C-5-substituted analogs of 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2-ones: A review

3,4-Dihydropyrimidin-2-ones act as a versatile scaffold in organic synthesis, which serves as a significant template for the development of various therapeutic agents and shows a wide spectrum of activities. The attractive application of 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2-ones in organic synthesis is undoubtedly owing to C-5 ester group, which is responsible for the change in its bioactivity. Introduction of various groups like electron-withdrawing and electron-donating groups at positions 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 greatly increased biological activity. Significant efforts have been undertaken to exploit different synthetic routes to synthesize various derivatives of 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2-ones. This review article gives a comprehensive account of the synthetic utility of C-5 substitution of 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2-ones used in the design and synthesis of different types of compounds with greater emphasis on recent literature.